Badminton: Kashyap, Siril, Ruthvika qualify for Australian Open

Sydney June 20 (IANS) Shuttlers Parupalli Kashyap Siril Verma and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde on Tuesday qualified for the $750 000 Australian Open Superseries starting here on Wednesday.

Kashyap got past Chinese Zhao Junpeng 21-15 21-18 in his first qualifying round before brushing aside Indonesia Open runner-up Kazumasa Sakai of Japan 21-5 21-16 to seal his place in the first round of the tournament.

Siril first brushed aside Indonesian Yehezkiel Fritz Mainaky 21-9 21-9 before getting the better of compatriot Shreyansh Jaiswal 21-16 21-14. Shreyansh had thumped Pit Seng Low of Australia 21-14 21-11 in his first qualifying round.

In the women s singles Ruthvika dismissed Australian Sylvina Kurniawan 21-15 21-15. The second qualifying round was a cakewalk for the Indian as she cruised past Ruwindi Serasinghe 21-9 21-7.

--IANS
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